An Ode to T.O.O.

My good friends Carrie and Miranda believe in the concept of "The One," (aka TO) and have long held that they are TO (In a strictly platonic, good girl friend kind of way) for each other. In their infinite wisdom, they decided it was also important to have a back up to TO, someone they call "The Other One" (aka T.O.O). I am Miranda's T.O.O., and I suppose she is mine (although I'm also currently accepting applications for the TO slot, if you know anyone who's looking).

Here is why Miranda is my T.O.O:

The last two weeks have been really exhausting. There's been cross-country travel, delayed plane flights, late nights at work, a LOT of drinking, and having to say goodbye to two very good friends. Now don't get me wrong, it's been a lot of fun, but I'm a natural introvert and too much people time makes me a little bit dysfunctional. With so many good friends on their way out of town at least semi-permanently, however, I felt that I should put the introvert nature aside, and soldier on, trying to cram as much extroverted fun as possible into the months of June and July.

This past weekend, those plans included an Ethiopian dive bar on Saturday night and a day at Stern Grove (to listen to a New Orleans jazz band) on Sunday on top of playing tour guide for a good friend who was in town. While all of this sounded really fun when we planned it, after my stint as San Francisco tour guide on Saturday afternoon, the last thing I wanted to do was schlep back into the city, spend too much on food and beer and be sociable and entertaining. (And then do it again on Sunday afternoon.) I took a nap Saturday afternoon, hoping that would make me more inclined to be fun Saturday night. When I woke up feeling groggy and even less fun, I called Miranda, and prepared myself to tell her that my inner-old woman had surfaced and she was not up for going out. As it turned out, I had woken her up from a nap of her own, and she didn't really want to go out that night either. We made plans to skip the Ethiopian dive bar and just do Stern Grove the following afternoon.

The following morning rolls around. I am awakened by a phone call. Miranda. In my head, I'm hoping that she's calling to cancel on Stern Grove, because I really don't want to spend all day at a concert, and I don't want to deal with being cold, or having to do all the work of getting in and out of the city. I listen to the message: "Hey, so I was just wandering if maybe you'd be OK with not going to Stern Grove, and maybe we could just stay and get breakfast in the East Bay instead?"

This is why she is T.O.O. A friend gives you shit when you decide you're too tired to go out. T.O.O. doesn't give you shit, because she feels the same way too.

Oh, and one more reason Miranda's my T.O.O: We had planned on going out and grabbing food and beer to celebrate the 4th of July. What we did not plan on, however, was the number of bars and restaurants that felt like it was acceptable to close for the holiday. I mean, come on people! It's a HOLIDAY. That means that everyone's off, everyone's probably hungry and everyone can drink because they don't have to work. Wouldn't that seem like a good reason for bars and restaurants to be OPEN on the 4th of July?

Apparently not in Oakland.

So after 40 minutes of driving aimlessly from bar to bar, looking for one that was open, we found ourselves cruising down Grand Avenue. Our criteria: a bar with food. Even a restaurant that served beer would be OK. I was just about to give up on the mission as hopeless and head for the nearest Safeway to grab a 6 pack and some chicken wings, when Miranda screamed out: "Oh my gosh! Food! Beer! Food! Beer! Go there!"

Now, it's not just her joy at having accomplished our mission that makes her T.O.O. She hadn't just found the one restaurant in Oakland that was open on the freaking 4th of July. She had found the one that was serving 99 cent draft beers! Good work, T.O.O.